Make That Dull Book Look Glamerous: Altered Book Preparation

Book art has been talked about and worked on in many creative circles, but enough of that. Let's create something we can keep or do whatever else we'd like with. Where does book alteration start, though?

Choosing your book:
Some people think this isn't a part of the process that really matters, but it does under certain circumstances. For example, I found a box lot full of old books once, but I couldn't use any of them for altering. Why? The bindings were so loose (moisture damage) and crumbling that it would've taken a complete reconstruct to get them to stay together during mixed media manipulations or even page turning, for that matter. (I reserved these books for projects where using old book pages were a necessary element.) When choosing your book, take the following into consideration:

1: Does the book fall apart when you open it up?
2: Is the book square and in basic "good" construction? (meaning, will it lay flat and allow for heavy manipulation)
3: Can pages be removed without the book falling apart?
4: How thick is the book? (If the book is too thick, then it's likely the project won't be finished.)
5: Is the cover intact or salvageable?

Preparing your book:
You've found the perfect book and have thought about the theme you're going for. Now what? Preparing the book for alteration is important for a variety of reasons. Some book artists prefer to alter the pages as they go and just let the book become whatever it's going to become. There's nothing wrong with that, but there are still others who prefer to plan things out and prevent possible problems before they happen. When preparing your book, think about the following: